INDIANAPOLIS -- Why did Pete Carroll overturn seven years of Seahawks’ coaching continuity in a less than a month?

With two years left on his Seahawks contract, the 66-year-old coach wants to go big.

And he wants to challenge Russell Wilson to get better, while he is still under a Seattle contract.

“Every offseason we approach it the same way: to compete as hard as we can to figure out the best ways to put our guys in the right positions, to do the right things, to make the right choices, to stay abreast at what's going on in the league," Carroll said Thursday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. "And sometimes you've got to make some tough calls to get that done and put it in the right order. I really feel confident that we've done that.”

The NFL’s oldest coach has gone from being at the bottom of the league, fired and out of it after the New York Jets canned him in the 1990s, to a Super Bowl champion with the Seahawks four years ago. Now, two months after Seattle missed the playoff for the first time since 2011, he wants to be challenged again.

He wants his players to be challenged more. And none more than the most important one, Wilson.

“I think it’s a great challenge. I take it as a personal challenge, as well as a franchise challenge,” Carroll said of rebounding in 2018. “We weren’t satisfied. We didn’t like the way it went, and we wanted to do stuff about it.”

That result has been the most upheaval of the Carroll era in Seattle. It’s come because the head man wants more energy to re-charge the team during its undeniable transition this year.

Carroll used to tout the coaching continuity he had with the Seahawks for seven years. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, defensive coordinator Kris Richard and offensive line coach Tom Cable had all been with him in some capacity for at least a half-dozen years. Bevell, Richard and Cable are all gone.

So why now? Why overhaul the coaching staff after a 9-7 season, which most NFL cities would consider far from a catastrophe?

“I was ready. And I’m excited about it,” Carroll, 66, said off the podium in the Indiana Convention Center. “I’m excited about the challenge of the newness and the opportunity to get better. I want to personally be challenged by our guys. And I want to personally challenge them.

“That will translate to challenging our players to see things differently and in a new way. It felt like this was the right time, and the opportunity to get some guys that were available obviously made that an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Guys such as Brian Schottenheimer. Carroll hired the former offensive coordinator with the Rams and Jets to replace the fired Bevell. Carroll said he made that change to challenge Wilson, the franchise quarterback.

“Really good connection with the quarterback, really good communication, relationship with the QB,” Carroll said of Schottenheimer. “He works directly with the quarterback more so than some other coordinators do.”

It’s obvious now that Carroll saw Bevell as having become too lax on demanding details from Wilson.

Frankly, it sounds like Carroll wanted someone to drive Wilson, for a change.

"I like the fact that he can connect the play caller and the quarterback leader, and the guy that's going to be with him on the field, as well, on a regular basis," Carroll said of Schottenheimer. "I like the fact that...I wanted to make that connection for Russell, so we could communicate directly with him in a little bit different fashion than we have."

The 44-year-old Schottenheimer is known as a detail freak. He’s also known to rip into receivers during games, in film sessions and at practice for lining up so much as a foot too far inside or outside in a formation.

But the coach has also gained his players’ admiration and respect for gestures such as taking them out for dinner or hosting them at his house.

That’s according to veteran NFL quarterback Kellen Clemens, who had Schottenheimer as his offensive coordinator for seven of his 11 seasons in the league.

“He’s got good quarterback background,” Carroll said of Schottenheimer. “So I really like all of that for challenging Russell, giving him new looks, new outlooks, new perspective possibly, just to continue to grow.”

Carroll sees the firing of Richard and the re-hiring from Oakland of fiery former Seattle linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. as another way the Seahawks will get better in 2018.

“The opportunity to get Kenny back in the program, who is just a remarkable individual and the energy and the juice that he brings, it was a rare opportunity,” Carroll said.

Carroll said Mike Solari will bring a new way of blocking into Seattle’s offense. And returning the Seahawks to an effective run-first offense in 2018.

"Mike Solari and I go back way back to the Niners days, so I've known Mikey for a long time. He is a great football coach. Very strict, very disciplined," Carroll said. "Brings a little bit different background, different scheme for us. It gives us a chance to do a little bit different things than we've done in the past, a different variety and diversity in the stuff that we are doing. But also brings us a wealth of experience in evaluations and that stuff, so we are very lucky."

Sherman goes under the knife again

Carroll said Richard Sherman had his second, “more minor” surgery on the other Achilles tendon, opposite the one he ruptured in November.

Asked if the three-time All-Pro cornerback was going to be ready for training camp at the end of July, Carroll said, “that’s what he’s counting on.”

As for rumors the Seahawks and general manager John Schneider might shop Sherman for the second consecutive offseason-- his contract ends after 2018—Carroll said: "John is doing all the talking right now, doing all the conversations about everybody. This time of year we are listening to everybody about everything, like we do. Nothing specific.’’